Handwriting

In schools today, handwriting is more important than ever before. Why? because the Department of Education (DfE), through the Standards & Testing Agency (2016 teaching assessment exemplification: end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 English Writing) and OFSTED,is insisting every child masters fluent and legible handwriting before they leave primary school.

For schools this means a child’s ability to write or not can make the difference between a school being awarded ‘Good’, ‘Outstanding’ or even ‘Requires Improvement’ by OFSTED.

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For children, who are unable to write to the required standard for Year 6 (that’s writing in a legible, neat, joined up script), this means that they will not be assessed any higher than Key Stage 2. So, for the one in three children (according to Government figures) leaving primary school unable to write to the required standard, their academic careers will be effectively halted at primary school level because they do NOT meet the Department of Education’s standards.

In Start-Bee’s experience, the one in three figure is optimistic. When carrying out handwriting assessments in local primary schools, Start-Bee found, in one sample group of 75 Year 1 pupils, that only two pupils were considered emergent handwriters (that’s being able to write to the appropriate standard). To ensure each pupil met DfE’s attainment outcomes, more than three quarters of the group were subsequently placed onStart-Bee’s handwriting interventionprogramme.

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We will be discussing the right method and the right tools for writing, talking about trialing our Handwriting Preparednessand handwriting intervention programmes in schools and sharing our experience alongside the teachers who took part in the trials at live Q&A events throughout the day on March 17th – 19th at the Birmingham NEC’s Education Show 2016.